A SCHEME which is using the Welsh language as an economic asset to safeguard the jobs of more than 200 people in businesses in North West Wales has been given a cash boost.

Menter Iaith Welsh Holidays project is one of 10 voluntary and community led organisations which are sharing £200,000 being paid through the Strategic Development Scheme by the Welsh Assembly. The funding will create 12 jobs and safeguard another 218.

The Welsh Holidays project encourages some of the 20,000 people who register to learn Welsh annually in Wales to make use of accommodation and leisure attractions provided in Conwy and Gwynedd through the medium of Welsh.

Meirion Davies, Menter Iaith Conwy development officer, said: "The project aims to get people to come to this area and advance their mastery of Welsh.

"It also makes Welsh an economic asset in this area by using it to bring extra income to these establishments. There are about 150 hotels, tourist attractions and others registered at the moment and the project will safeguard an estimated 200 jobs in them."

Mr Hughes said the project was also targeting Welsh speakers living in non-Welsh speaking areas of Wales and trying to tap into colleges and schools outside the area where Welsh is taught as a second language.

The holidays project is to be extended to Anglesey and then to other parts of Wales, he added.

Other organisations supported by SDS grant are Llandudno & District Credit Union which will use the money for recruitment and training of volunteers, MASE (Music and Sound Experience) for development officer funding and volunteer training, Llanrwst Almshouses and Museum Trust for training and vocational schemes, Penmaenmawr Community Centre for longer opening hours, new services and more staff, North Wales Housing Association for its One Stop Information Centre, CVSC for a welfare rights development project, CVSC training and development project, Cymdeithas Tai Clwyd for training of youth workers involved in the Bus Stop project and CWMNI Penllan Cyf for a community development officer.

Conwy County Borough Council's economic development and regeneration spokesman Coun Eddie Woodward said: "Many of the organisations find the support available through the Strategic Development Scheme invaluable in safeguarding and creating jobs and delivering innovative schemes for the benefit of the community."

He added that projects which received grants had been able to demonstrate that they that will bring economic, environmental and social development benefits to the area.